Resistor ladder interpolation for PGA and DAC

ABSTRACT

A voltage interpolation circuit includes a resistive ladder connected between ground and a voltage input and having a plurality of resistors with voltage taps between the resistors. An amplifier (optionally) has first and second capacitors connected together at their respective first terminals and to an input of the amplifier. A first plurality of switches connect respective taps to a second terminal of the first capacitor. A second plurality of switches connect the respective taps to a second terminal of the second capacitor. An output voltage is interpolated by controlling the first and second pluralities of switches.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a Continuation-in-Part of application Ser. No.10/748,250, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,784,818, Filed: Dec. 31, 2003, Titled:ANALOG TO DIGITAL CONVERTER WITH INTERPOLATION OF REFERENCE LADDER,which is a Continuation of application Ser. No. 10/158,774, now U.S.Pat. No. 6,697,005, Filed: May 31, 2002, Titled: ANALOG TO DIGITALCONVERTER WITH INTERPOLATION OF REFERENCE LADDER, which is aContinuation-in-Part of application Ser. No. 10/153,709, now U.S. Pat.No. 6,628,224, Filed: May 24, 2002, Titled: DISTRIBUTED AVERAGING ANALOGTO DIGITAL CONVERTER TOPOLOGY, all of which are incorporated byreference herein.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to reference ladders, and moreparticularly, to interpolation of reference ladder voltages for use inprogrammable gain amplifiers (PGAs) and digital to analog converters(DACs).

2. Related Art

A subranging analog to digital converter (ADC) architecture is suitablefor implementing high-performance ADC's (i.e. high speed, low power, lowarea, high resolution). FIG. 1 shows the generic two-step subrangingarchitecture, comprising a reference ladder 104, a coarse ADC 102, aswitch matrix 103, a fine ADC 105, coarse comparators 107, finecomparators 108 and an encoder 106. In most cases, a track-and-hold 101is used in front of the ADC. In this architecture, an input voltage isfirst quantized by the coarse ADC 102. The coarse ADC 102 compares theinput voltage against all the reference voltages, or against a subset ofthe reference voltages that is uniformly distributed across the wholerange of reference voltages. Based on a coarse quantization, the switchmatrix 103 connects the fine ADC 105 to a subset of the referencevoltages (called a “subrange”) that is centered around the input signalvoltage.

A flash ADC architecture is the most straightforward implementation ofan analog-to-digital converter. Unfortunately, it is very inefficient interms of area and power. In particular, an N-bit ADC requires 2^(N)comparators. Furthermore, it requires a reference ladder with 2^(N)taps, which generally causes a lot of wiring parasitic capacitance,slowing down the ADC.

A subranging ADC architecture is often used as a more power- andarea-efficient alternative to the flash ADC architecture. Whilesubranging does help to reduce the number of comparators, it does nothelp to reduce the number of taps on the reference ladder. In fact, thesituation is complicated by the fact that subranging requires a switchmatrix with a large number of switches. Parasitic capacitance associatedwith these switches slows down the ADC even further.

A conventional way of connecting the first row of amplifiers to thereference ladder is shown in FIG. 2: amplifier A1 connects to referencetaps “2m” and “0”, amplifier A2 connects to a “2m−1” tap and a “1” tap,etc. Thus, in a “brute force” flash ADC, the reference ladder 104 has2^(N)=2m taps (e.g., 1024 taps for N=10).

Three techniques have been published in the literature for decreasingthe number of switches in subranging ADC's. First, interpolation betweenpreamplifier output voltages is often used. Interpolation is oftenapplied in both flash ADC's, subranging ADC's and folding ADC's. Thisform of interpolation reduces the number of amplifiers in a first arrayof amplifiers. Since only the first array of amplifiers needsconnections to the reference ladder 104, this technique reduces therequired number of reference taps and switches. For example, 4×interpolation within the fine ADC 105 reduces the number of switches by75%.

A second technique for reducing the number of switches is referred to as“absolute value processing.” See B. P. Brandt and J. Lutsky. “A 75-mW,10-b, 20-MSPS CMOS subranging ADC with 9.5 effective bits at Nyquist,”IEEE Jour. of Solid State Circ., 34(12):1788–1795 (December 1999). Thistechnique uses the fact that the absolute value function can beimplemented simply by a commutator, basically comprising only fourswitches. This technique reduces the required number of switches in thematrix 103 by another 50%. Note that this technique does not reduce thenumber of taps on the reference ladder 104.

A third technique called “multilevel tree decoding scheme” decreases thenumber of switches by 62.5%. (See, e.g., Ito et al., “A 10-bit 20 MS/s3V Supply CMOS A/D converter,” IEEE J. of Solid State Circ., 29(12):1532–36, December 1994) Note that this technique does not reducethe number of taps on the reference ladder 104.

For example, a 10-bit analog digital converter in a “brute force” flashtype configuration would require 2¹⁰, or 1024 taps on the referenceladder, which is very awkward. Thus, the problem involves the totalnumber of taps required from the reference ladder, as well as the numberof switches in the switch matrix for a subranging analog digitalconverter. It is therefore desirable to reduce the number of taps, whichreduces the amount of parasitic capacitance due to the connectionsinvolved.

Accordingly, a need exists for an ADC circuit topology thatsignificantly reduces the number of switches and taps from the referenceladder 104.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to resistor ladder interpolation forprogrammable gain amplifier (PGA) and digital to analog converter (DAC)that substantially obviates one or more of the problems anddisadvantages of the related art.

Additional features and advantages of the invention will be set forth inthe description which follows, and in part will be apparent from thedescription, or may be learned by practice of the invention. Theobjectives and other advantages of the invention will be realized andattained by the structure particularly pointed out in the writtendescription and claims hereof as well as the appended drawings.

To achieve these and other advantages and in accordance with the purposeof the present invention, as embodied and broadly described, there isprovided a voltage interpolation circuit including a resistive ladderconnected between ground and a voltage input and having a plurality ofresistors with voltage taps between the resistors. An amplifier(optionally) has first and second capacitors connected together at theirrespective first terminals and to an input of the amplifier. A firstplurality of switches connect respective taps to a second terminal ofthe first capacitor. A second plurality of switches connect therespective taps to a second terminal of the second capacitor. An outputvoltage is interpolated by controlling the first and second pluralitiesof switches.

In another aspect of the present invention there is provided adifferential voltage interpolation circuit including a first resistiveladder connected between a positive voltage input and a terminationresistor, with a first plurality of resistors with voltage taps betweenthe resistors. A first amplifier has first and second capacitorsconnected together at their respective first terminals and to an inputof the first amplifier. A first plurality of switches connect thevoltage taps of the first resistive ladder to a second terminal of thefirst capacitor and a second terminal of the second capacitor. A secondresistive ladder is connected between a negative voltage input and thetermination resistor, and to a second plurality of resistors withvoltage taps between the resistors. A second amplifier has third andfourth capacitors connected together at their respective first terminalsand to an input of the second amplifier. A second plurality of switchesconnect the voltage taps of the second resistive ladder to a secondterminal of the third capacitor and a second terminal of the fourthcapacitor. A differential output voltage is interpolated by controllingthe first and second pluralities of switches.

In another aspect of the present invention there is provided a voltageinterpolation circuit including a resistive ladder connected betweenground and a voltage input and having a plurality of resistors withvoltage taps between the resistors. First and second transistors areconnected together at their respective sources and to a current source,and having their drains connected to a positive supply. A firstplurality of switches connect respective taps to a gate of the firsttransistor. A second plurality of switches connect the respective tapsto a gate of the second transistor.

It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description andthe following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory and areintended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a furtherunderstanding of the invention and are incorporated in and constitute apart of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention andtogether with the description serve to explain the principles of theinvention. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 represents a generalized 2-step subranging an ADC architecture;

FIG. 2 illustrates a conventional way of connecting a first row ofamplifiers to a reference ladder;

FIG. 3 illustrates an auto-zero amplifier used in the present invention;

FIG. 4 illustrates a first technique for connecting amplifiers of thepresent invention to the reference ladder;

FIG. 5 illustrates the approach of FIG. 4 with split capacitorinterpolation;

FIG. 6 illustrates the approach of FIG. 5 with interpolation of samplingcapacitor outputs;

FIG. 7 illustrates a circuit diagram corresponding to the approach ofFIG. 6; and

FIG. 8 illustrates a reference ladder used in the present invention.

FIG. 9 illustrates capacitive interpolation as applied to a programmablegate array.

FIG. 10 illustrates an embodiment of interpolation where differentialinputs are used.

FIG. 11 illustrates an example of active interpolation for a digital toanalog converter.

FIG. 12 illustrates an embodiment of interpolation where differentialinputs are used in further detail.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiments of thepresent invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings.

One of the disadvantages of the subranging ADC architecture is the largenumber of switches required, resulting in degraded high-frequencyperformance. This disclosure describes how the required number ofswitches can be significantly reduced by interpolation of the referenceladder. Three new interpolation techniques are proposed.

All three techniques accomplish interpolation of the reference laddertaps. Since all three techniques can be applied to both subranging andflash ADC's, for simplicity they will be illustrated with respect to theflash architecture, showing a reduction in reference ladder taps thatcan be accomplished. Note that for subranging architectures, a reductionin the required number of switches equals a reduction in number ofreference taps.

The techniques are illustrated based on the auto-zero amplifier shown inFIG. 3. FIG. 3 illustrates the structure of one of the amplifiers in anamplifier array A1, A2, A3 . . . of FIG. 4, discussed below. As shown inFIG. 3, a non-overlapping two-phase clock is used, with non-overlappingphases φ₁ and φ₂. At a “+” input of the amplifier, two NMOS transistorsM1 and M2 are used, with a source of the transistor M2 being connectedto the “+” input terminal, and a gate of the transistor M2 beingconnected to the clock phase φ₂. The “+” and “−” inputs are connected totaps from the reference ladder 104.

A gate of the transistor M1 is driven by the clock phase φ₁. The drainsof the transistors M1 and M2 are tied together and connected to one sideof a capacitor C+. A source of M1 is connected to the positive T/H 101output, and a source of M7 is connected to the negative T/H 101 output.The gates of M1 and M7 are driven by φ₁. The other side of the capacitorC+ is connected to a source of a transistor M3, and to a gate of atransistor M4. A gate of the transistor M3 is connected to the clockphase φ₁. Drains of the transistors M3 and M4 are tied together and,through resistor R1, to a positive supply voltage V_(dd). A symmetricalstructure is used for the “−” input, as shown in FIG. 3, usingtransistors M8, M7, M6 and M5, and a capacitor C−. The amplifier hasdifferential outputs V_(OUT+), V_(OUT−). The dashed portion correspondsto the amplifier A1 shown in subsequent figures.

During clock phase φ₁ the amplifier is in a reset mode and the samplingcapacitors are charged to the value of the sampled voltage V_(sample).More specifically, on φ₁, the transistors M1, M3, M5 and M7 are turnedon. During the next clock phase, φ₂, the transistors M2 and M8 areturned on, the amplifier is connected to the reference ladder 104 andthe amplifier output voltage V_(out) equals:V_(out)=G·(V_(ref)−V_(sample)),

where G is the voltage gain of the amplifier,V_(ref)=V_(+input)−V_(−input) and

V_(sample)=V_(TH, pos)−V_(TH, neg), where V_(TH) is the differentialoutput of the track and hold 101.

It will be appreciated that although the auto-zeroing amplifier of FIG.3 is shown as using N channel MOSFET's, P channel MOSFET's can also beused. Note further that the track-and-hold 101 of FIG. 1 is typically adifferential input and output amplifier that is connected todifferential outputs of the track and hold amplifier 110, V_(TH, pos)and V_(TH, neg).

FIG. 4 illustrates a first interpolation technique, and shows that about50% reduction in the number of taps can be obtained if only the positiveor the negative reference input is changed when going from one amplifierto the next. That is, amplifier A1 in FIG. 4 connects to reference taps“m” and “0”, amplifier A2 connects to “m” and “1”, so that only thenegative input changes from A1 to A2; amplifier A3 connects to “m−1” and“1”, etc. In other words, a reference ladder 104 has a plurality of tapsV_(ref,0) through V_(ref,m). FIG. 4 also shows each of the amplifiersA1, A2, A3 . . . has a capacitor at each input. Thus, the amplifier A1has a capacitor C1 at its “+” input, and capacitor C2 at its “−” input.The amplifier A2 has capacitor C3 at its “+” input, and capacitor C4 atits “−” input, and so on. The transistors M1, M2, M7 and M8 correspondto the transistors shown in FIG. 3 (and are only shown for the amplifierA1 for clarity). The capacitors C1, C2 correspond to the capacitors C−,C+ of FIG. 3.

As may be seen from FIG. 4, the amplifier A1 is connected to tapsV_(ref,m) and V_(ref,0). The amplifier A2 is connected to V_(ref,m) andV_(ref,1). The amplifier A3 is connected to V_(ref,m−1) and V_(ref,1),and so forth. Comparing FIG. 2 with FIG. 4, in FIG. 4, neighboringamplifiers have only one of their inputs changed, compared toneighboring amplifier in FIG. 2, where both of the inputs are changed.In other words, with reference to FIG. 2, in FIG. 2 both the “+” inputson the amplifiers A1 and A2 change (from V_(ref, 2m) to V_(ref,2m−1)) aswell as the “−” inputs change (from V_(ref,0) to V_(ref,1)). Incontrast, in FIG. 4, the “+” inputs of the amplifiers A1 and A2 are boththe same (V_(ref,m)), while the “−” inputs of the amplifiers A1 and A2change from V_(ref,0) to V_(ref,1). Thus, only one of the inputs changeswhen going from one amplifier to a neighboring amplifier.

It will be appreciated that the terms “adjacent” and “neighboring” areused in their hierarchical sense compared to the taps from the referenceladder 104, rather than in the sense of how the overall circuit isactually laid out. Thus, although an actual layout would most likelyhave the amplifiers A1, A2, A3 . . . laid out close to each other, thisneed not be the case.

It will be appreciated that unlike FIG. 2, which requires a total of1024 taps for a 10-bit analog digital converter, e.g., 2^(N) in a “bruteforce” approach, the number of taps required for the circuit of FIG. 4to operate is half that (or 2^(N)÷2). Note also that the 2^(N)÷2 figureassumes that no interpolation is used.

The proposed technique results in common-mode differences at the inputsof the amplifiers. This is only a minor disadvantage, since theamplifiers generally have good common-mode rejection and the common-modedifferences are quite small.

The outputs of the amplifiers (or, if necessary, cascaded stages ofamplifiers) are fed into a comparator array (not shown, see 108 of FIG.1), and then to an encoder (not shown, see 106 of FIG. 1).

A second technique accomplishing reference ladder interpolation isillustrated in FIG. 5. Here, the input sampling capacitors C1, C2 . . .of the amplifiers A1, A2, A3 . . . are divided into two parts,effectively providing each amplifier with two positive and two negativereference inputs. The capacitor C1 is divided into the capacitors C1 aand C1 b, and the capacitor C2 is divided into the capacitors C2 a andC2 b. The capacitor C3 is divided into capacitors C3 a and C3 b, thecapacitor C4 is divided into capacitors C4 a and C4 b, and so on. Thetwo positive reference inputs can be connected to different referencetaps, thus implementing interpolation of the reference ladder 104. Thesame applies to the two negative reference inputs. As an example, thetwo positive reference inputs shown in FIG. 5 are connected to taps “m”and “m−1”. The “+” input of A2 is effectively connected to a “virtual”tap V_(ref, m−1/2). The “−” input is effectively connected to a“virtual” tap V_(ref,1/2). Thus, this interpolation technique allows anadditional reduction of 50% in the number of tap lines from thereference ladder 104.

Note that in terms of circuit layout on a semiconductor substrate, it iseasier to split up a capacitor into two smaller capacitors, rather thanhaving more taps from a reference ladder, since the primary source ofparasitic capacitance is the number of tap lines from the referenceladder 104. A reduction of tap lines therefore results in a reduction inparasitic capacitance associated with the additional tap lines.

It will also be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art that theinterpolation approach of FIG. 5 does not require that the capacitors atthe input of each amplifier be equal. Thus, the interpolation techniquewill work if each capacitor is divided into capacitors having differentvalues, as appropriate for the voltage required at the particular inputof the amplifier. It will also be appreciated that each input capacitorcan be split up into more than two capacitors, e.g., capacitor C3 may bedivided into capacitors C3 a, C3 b, C3 c, although as each capacitorgets smaller, eventually the use of such small capacitors forinterpolation will become problematic.

A third technique accomplishing reference ladder interpolation isillustrated in FIG. 6. FIG. 6 shows that not all input amplifiers needto be connected to the reference taps. Interpolation of the samplingcapacitor “outputs” can be used to reduce the required number ofreference taps. In the example shown in FIG. 6, a reduction of about 50%is obtained.

As may be seen from FIG. 6, not every amplifier in the amplifier arrayA1, A2, A3 . . . needs to have its own tap line, particularly where theadjacent, or neighboring, amplifier uses the same tap line. Thus, the“−” input of the amplifier A1, which in FIG. 4 is connected to V_(ref,0)tap, can be directly connected to the “+” input of the amplifier A2,which in FIG. 4 is also connected to the V_(ref,0) tap. Similarly, sincethe “+” input of A3 and the “−” input of the amplifier A2 are connectedto the same voltage V_(ref,m−1) tap, the “−” input of the amplifier A2does not require its own tap, but can be directly connected to the “+”input of the amplifier A3. This will further reduce the number of taplines and tap connections from the reference ladder to the amplifierarray. The technique shown in FIG. 6 may be referred to as “interpolateby 2” technique, which results in a 50% reduction in the overall numberof tap connections. It also results in the elimination of approximatelyhalf of the input capacitors, compared to the technique shown in FIG. 4.

FIG. 7 illustrates the approach of FIG. 6 in more detail and shows thethree amplifiers A1, A2, A3 of FIG. 6 (without the switches driven bythe two phase clock). The A1 and A3 amplifiers have their own inputcapacitors (C1, C2, and C5, C6, respectively), the A1 amplifier hasdifferential inputs V_(ref,m)/V_(ref,0), the amplifier A3 hasdifferential inputs V_(ref,m−1)/V_(ref,1). The amplifier A2 does nothave its own input capacitors. Instead, the amplifier A2 comprises twodifferential transistor pairs M4, M6 (both half the size of thedifferential pairs M4, M6 of A1 and A3 ). Its current sources are eachhalf of the current source of A1 or A3. Gates of one of the transistorpairs M4, M6 connect to the gates of the corresponding transistors ofthe A1 amplifier, and gates of the other differential transistor pairM4, M6 connect to corresponding gates of transistors of the A3amplifier. The drain currents of the two differential transistor pairsof A2 are summed. As a result, the output of the amplifier A2(V_(OUT,2)) is (approximately) equal to the average of the outputs of A1and A3 (i.e., the average of V_(OUT,1) and V_(OUT,3)).

The reference ladder interpolation techniques described here can beapplied to various types of ADC architectures. In flash and folding ADCarchitectures, they can be used to reduce the number of taps on thereference ladder 104. In subranging ADC architectures, they reduce boththe number of reference taps and the number of switches.

It will be appreciated by one with ordinary skill in the art thattechniques described herein are applicable to flash type ADC's, foldingADC's and subranging ADC's.

FIG. 8 illustrates a reference ladder arrangement of one embodiment ofthe present invention. The reference ladder 104 includes a plurality of65Ω resistors which are connected to a relatively slow amplifier 801.(The bandwidth of the amplifier 801 as approximately 1–2 MHz). Theoutput of the amplifier 801 is also tied to its “−” input, and to atransistor 802, whose source and drain are both tied to ground, forminga 22 pF capacitor.

All three techniques can be applied at the same time, in order to obtaina very significant reduction in the number of reference taps and matrixswitches.

For example, for an N=9 bit ADC, the reduction in number of taps is asfollows:

full flash for N = 9: 512 taps (2^(N)) 2× capacitive interpolation atladder: 256 taps (2^(N−1)) change V_(ref, p) or V_(ref, n) only: 128taps (2^(N−2)) 2× interpolation of the “outputs”  64 taps (2^(N−3)) ofthe sampling caps 4× split differential pair interpolation:  16 taps(2^(N−5)) edge effect (add one or two):  17 taps

The table below illustrates the tap voltages for the 17-tap case:

Tap # Tap voltage 16 0.95 15 0.90625 14 0.8625 13 0.81875 12 0.775 110.73125 10 0.6875 9 0.64375 8 0.6 7 0.55625 6 0.5125 5 0.46875 4 0.425 30.38125 2 0.3375 1 0.29375 0 0.25

In the description above, a resistive ladder was used for voltageinterpolation in the context of analog converters. However, theinterpolation approach discussed herein is also applicable to othercircuits, for example, programmable gate arrays (PGAs) and digital toanalog converters (DACs). The advantage of this approach for PGAs andDACs is the same, i.e., reducing the number of voltage taps from theresistive ladder, and consequently, reduction in the number of resistorsnecessary in the resistive ladder. This has the advantage of reducingthe amount of real estate on the integrated circuit that is taken up bythe resistive ladder.

FIG. 9 illustrates capacitive interpolation as applied to a programmablegate array. As shown in FIG. 9, a resistive ladder includes fiveresistors 901A–901E. (It will be appreciated that the invention is notlimited to any particular number of resistors in the resistive ladder.)Two capacitors C902A and C902B are at the input of an amplifier 903,which outputs an output voltage V_(OUT). The resistive ladder includes anumber of taps, which are connected to the capacitors C902A, C902Bthrough switches S1A, S1B through S5A, S5B, as shown in FIG. 9.

The switches S1A–S5B can be digitally controlled, to result in a largenumber of possible interpolated voltages, compared to a conventionalresistive ladder, which has just the voltage taps (essentially, aresistor divider network). The circuit in FIG. 9 may be viewed as anexample of a programmable gain amplifier with a capacitive coupling to abuffer amplifier.

FIG. 10 illustrates an embodiment of a PGA or a DAC, where differentialinputs are used. In essence, two resistive ladders such as shown in FIG.9, are used in this circuit, one for the positive input V_(IN,POS), andone for the negative input V_(IN,NEG). Two amplifiers 903A, 903B(corresponding to the differential analog of the single amplifier 903shown in FIG. 9) are used. These amplifiers are connected in the samemanner to their respective resistive ladders, as shown in FIG. 9 (theseconnections are not shown in FIG. 10 for simplicity). As shown in thelower half of FIG. 10, by changing the connections from the taps to thebuffer amplifiers 903A, 903B, the output voltages V_(OUT,POS) andV_(OUT,NEG) can be interpolated (in other words, going from a set ofconnections shown in position 1 to a set of connections shown inposition 2 in FIG. 10). In the example shown in FIG. 10, when going fromone position to the next, only the “tap” position of the positive or thenegative buffer amplifier 903A, 903B is changed. This in effect reducesthe number of taps required by a factor of 2. Note that this circuit canbe used both in a programmable gain amplifier (when having a varyinginput signal), or in a DAC (when having a DC reference input signal). Inthe case of a DAC, the capacitors C902A, C902B would be omitted, sincethe voltages from the taps are DC voltages.

FIG. 12 illustrates an embodiment of interpolation where differentialinputs are used in further detail.

FIG. 11 illustrates an example of active interpolation for a digital toanalog converter. Similar to FIG. 9, a resistive ladder comprising anumber of resistors (in this case, 901A–901E) is used, with a number oftaps between the resistors 901A–901E. The taps are connected throughswitches S1A–S5B to two transistors M1101A, M1101B (e.g., MOSFETtransistors, or bipolar transistors), as shown in FIG. 11. The switchesS1A–S5B are digitally controlled, to be “on” or “off”, to provide aparticular gate voltage on the gates of the transistors M1101A, M1101B.In the simplest case, only one of the switches is “on”, effectivelymaking the resistor ladder a resistor divider. However, by combiningseveral switches, an interpolated voltage may be applied to the gates. Acurrent source 1102 is also used, in combination with the interpolatedgate voltages, to generate an interpolated output voltage V_(OUT).

CONCLUSION

It will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changesin form and details may be made therein without departing from thespirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.Thus, the breadth and scope of the present invention should not belimited by any of the above-described exemplary embodiments, but shouldbe defined only in accordance with the following claims and theirequivalents.

1. A voltage interpolation circuit comprising: a resistive ladderconnected between ground and a voltage input and having a plurality ofresistors with voltage taps between the resistors; an amplifier; firstand second capacitors connected together at their respective firstterminals and to an input of the amplifier; a first plurality ofswitches connecting respective taps to a second terminal of the firstcapacitor; and a second plurality of switches connecting respective tapsto a second terminal of the second capacitor, wherein an output voltageof the amplifier is interpolated by controlling the first and secondpluralities of switches; and wherein a first switch from the firstplurality of switches and a second switch from the second plurality ofswitches are each connected to a common voltage tap between adjacentresistors in the resistive ladder.
 2. The voltage interpolation circuitof claim 1, wherein the amplifier is a buffer amplifier.
 3. Adifferential voltage interpolation circuit comprising: a first resistiveladder connected between a positive voltage input and a terminationresistor, and having a first plurality of resistors with voltage tapsbetween the resistors; a first amplifier; first and second capacitorsconnected together at their respective first terminals and to an inputof the first amplifier; a first plurality of switches connecting thevoltage taps of the first resistive ladder to a second terminal of thefirst capacitor and a second terminal of the second capacitor, a secondresistive ladder connected between a negative voltage input and thetermination resistor, and having a second plurality of resistors withvoltage taps between the resistors; a second amplifier; third and fourthcapacitors connected together at their respective first terminals and toan input of the second amplifier; a second plurality of switchesconnecting the voltage taps of the second resistive ladder to a secondterminal of the third capacitor and a second terminal of the fourthcapacitor, wherein a differential output voltage of the first and secondamplifiers is interpolated by controlling the first and secondpluralities of switches; and wherein a first switch and a second switchfrom the first plurality of switches are connected to a first commonvoltage tap between adjacent resistors in the first resistive ladder;and wherein a third switch and a fourth switch from the second pluralityof switches are each connected to a second common voltage tap betweenadjacent resistors in the second resistive ladder.
 4. A voltageinterpolation circuit comprising: a resistive ladder connected betweenground and a voltage input and having a plurality of resistors withvoltage taps between the resistors; first and second transistorsconnected together at their respective sources and to a current source,and having their drains connected to a positive supply; a firstplurality of switches connecting respective taps to a gate of the firsttransistor; and a second plurality of switches connecting the respectivetaps to a gate of the second transistor, wherein an output voltage atsources of the transistors is interpolated by controlling the first andsecond pluralities of switches.
 5. A voltage interpolation circuitcomprising: a resistive ladder connected between ground and a voltageinput and having a plurality of resistors with voltage taps between theresistors; an amplifier; a first plurality of switches connectingrespective taps to an input of the amplifier; and a second plurality ofswitches connecting the respective taps to the fused input of theamplifier, wherein an output voltage of the amplifier is interpolated bycontrolling the first and second pluralities of switches; and wherein afirst switch from the first plurality of switches and a second switchfrom the second plurality of switches are each connected to a commonvoltage tap between adjacent resistors in the resistive ladder.
 6. Avoltage interpolation circuit comprising: a resistive ladder connectedbetween a voltage input and one of a ground terminal and terminationresistor and having a plurality of resistors with voltage taps betweenthe resistors; means for amplification; a first plurality of switchesconnecting respective taps to a first terminal of the means foramplification; and a second plurality of switches connecting therespective taps to a second terminal of the means for amplification,wherein an output voltage of the means for amplification is interpolatedby controlling the first and second pluralities of switches; and whereina first switch from the first plurality of switches and a second switchfrom the second plurality of switches are each connected to a commonvoltage tap between adjacent resistors in the resistive ladder.
 7. Thevoltage interpolation circuit of claim 1, wherein a switch from thefirst plurality of switches allows the voltage input to bypass theresistive ladder and be coupled to the second terminal of the firstcapacitor.
 8. The voltage interpolation circuit of claim 1, wherein aswitch from the second plurality of switches allows the voltage input tobypass the resistive ladder and be coupled to the second terminal of thesecond capacitor.
 9. The differential voltage interpolation circuit ofclaim 3, wherein a first switch from the first plurality of switchesallows the positive voltage input to bypass the first resistive ladderand be coupled to the second terminal of the first capacitor and asecond switch from the first plurality of switches allows the positivevoltage input to bypass the first resistive ladder and be coupled to thesecond terminal of the second capacitor.
 10. The differential voltageinterpolation circuit of claim 3, wherein a first switch from the secondplurality of switches allows the negative voltage input to bypass thesecond resistive ladder and be coupled to the second terminal of thethird capacitor and a second switch from the second plurality ofswitches allows the negative voltage input to bypass the secondresistive ladder and be coupled to the second terminal of the secondcapacitor.
 11. The voltage interpolation circuit of claim 4, wherein aswitch from the first plurality of switches allows the voltage input tobypass the resistive ladder and be coupled to the gate of the firsttransistor.
 12. The voltage interpolation circuit of claim 4, wherein aswitch from the second plurality of switches allows the voltage input tobypass the resistive ladder and be coupled to the gate of the secondtransistor.
 13. The voltage interpolation circuit of claim 5, wherein aswitch from the first plurality of switches allows the voltage input tobypass the resistive ladder and be coupled to the single fused input ofthe amplifier.
 14. The voltage interpolation circuit of claim 5, whereina switch from the second plurality of switches allows the voltage inputto bypass the resistive ladder and be coupled to the single fused inputof the amplifier.
 15. The voltage interpolation circuit of claim 6,wherein a switch from the first plurality of switches allows the voltageinput to bypass the resistive ladder and be coupled to the firstterminal of the means for amplification.
 16. The voltage interpolationcircuit of claim 6, wherein a switch from the second plurality ofswitches allows the voltage input to bypass the resistive ladder and becoupled to the second terminal of the means for amplification.